Photograph of John Hunt Morgan’s captured raiders held at Western Penitentiary near Pittsburgh following their defeat and capture on July 19, 1863.
The Battle of Buffington Island marked the disastrous climax of the northernmost Confederate raid of the Civil War. Morgan’s men had spent weeks raiding across Indiana and Ohio, but delays at the Ohio River crossing allowed Union cavalry and gunboats to close in and trap the column before it could escape south.
The prisoners sent to Western Penitentiary found themselves subjected to strict civilian‑penal discipline rather than standard military POW routines, including silent confinement and closely regulated behavior — a stark contrast to the romanticized image of Morgan’s dashing cavalrymen.
Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain
